--- description: "It was a bad accident," an observer told TIME Magazine shortly after. "The car was crushed and tilted up against the wall." title: Read TIME's Original 1997 Special Report on the Death of Princess Diana image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt392da98fab53b27d/6988db38196cf436b8041a32/1101970908_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read TIME's Original 1997 Special Report on Princess Diana's Death  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 31, 2017 1:00 PM CUT  The Sep. 8, 1997, cover of TIME The Sep. 8, 1997, cover of TIMECover Credit: MARK LENNIHAN / AP  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 31, 2017 1:00 PM CUT The passersby in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997 — precisely 20 years ago this Thursday — knew right away that they had heard the sound of something terrible happening. It would take a little while longer for them, and the rest of the world, to realize the depths of the [loss](http://time.com/4899497/princess-diana-prince-william-harry-legacy/ "undefined") contained in that crash, the sound of a car hitting concrete, with [Princess Diana](http://time.com/4879138/diana-princess-remembered/ "undefined") inside. Her death arrived early that morning, several hours after the crash that also killed Dodi al Fayed and driver Henri Paul (who, it was [determined](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-09-22/spread/34/ "undefined"), had been intoxicated). In the days, weeks, years and now decades that followed, those who knew her and those who only knew her work would mourn the [potential](http://time.com/4914377/princess-diana-humanitarian-work/ "undefined") that had been so suddenly cut off. But, at the beginning, there were also many questions about just how such an accident had happened. Those were some of the issues tackled in TIME’s special report the following week, which [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-09-08/spread/30/ "undefined") just what was known at that time to have happened: --- > “” --- As the writer Martin Amis [put it](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-09-15/page/64/ "undefined") in a commemorative issue the following week, her death was a “fixing moment” in the lives of many. “You will always remember,” he wrote, “where you were and who you were with when you heard this news.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4916157/special-report-princess-diana-death/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4916157/special-report-princess-diana-death/"},"headline":"Read TIME's Original 1997 Special Report on Princess Diana's Death","datePublished":"2017-08-31T13:00:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:10:05.342Z","description":"\"It was a bad accident,\" an observer told TIME Magazine shortly after. \"The car was crushed and tilted up against the wall.\"","url":"https://time.com/4916157/special-report-princess-diana-death/","keywords":["remembrance","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt392da98fab53b27d/6988db38196cf436b8041a32/1101970908_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt392da98fab53b27d/6988db38196cf436b8041a32/1101970908_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sep. 8, 1997","caption":"Sep. 8, 1997","creditText":"Cover Credit: MARK LENNIHAN / AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4916157/special-report-princess-diana-death/","name":"Read TIME's Original 1997 Special Report on Princess Diana's Death"}}]}] ```